Sleep, O sweet sleep, where art thou? Some nights it’s impossible to doze off, all the world’s thoughts heavy on your eyelids.
So whenever I see a trick or vital TikTok that promises a hack to make you fall asleep instantly, I’m hooked.
This week, I came across a content creator who goes by @YoungerYouDoc, teaching people “how to become the youngest version of themselves”.
In one video, he demonstrates how rubbing your wrists for two to three minutes can help you nod off. This is because a spot on your wrist provides one of several pressure points for sleep, according to reflexologists.
“There are four acupressure points starting at the pinky side of the wrist crease and moving up the inner forearm,” Dr Shari Auth, chief healing officer and co-founder of WTHN, told Bustle.
“They are good for insomnia and are excellent to rub at bedtime. These points are commonly used by acupuncturists to treat sleep, palpitations, and mental health issues such as depression and anxiety.”
So, for the last two nights I’ve tried the trick to see how it affects me. And unfortunately, it didn’t help at all.
Perhaps I had the wrong point (I watched a video about pressure points and it seems I did rub the suggested area). But what stopped me from falling into a slumber was being conscious that I was rubbing my wrist.
Before I fall asleep I like to be as still as possible, so I think for me it felt unnatural to keep rubbing for a few minutes.
I also switched hands in case one wrist was more effective than the other. But after doing it for a while, my wrist started getting warm and I decided to give up.
I also didn’t sleep very well and it took me longer to fall asleep than it would usually (though that might be unrelated).
As far as sleep hacks go, I prefer content creator Justin Agustin’s method.
In another viral video, he explained how his two-minute method was adopted by military personnel who often sleep in rough conditions.
It consists of incrementally relaxing your body, then imagining a warm light travelling through your body, while focussing on your breathing. Then you clear your mind of all stresses.
To do this, Agustin advises imagining one of two scenarios; the first is lying in a canoe in a calm clear lake, with a blue sky above you. The other is lying in a velvet black hammock under a pitch black sky.
Any time your thoughts try to distract you, repeat the words ‘don’t think’ 10 times.
Sounds simple enough, right? Well, Agustin explains, you’d need to do this every day for six weeks to see it work effectively enough to fall asleep within two minutes.
It might sound tedious, but it might be worth it in the long run.